News Forum - Thailand’s schools are reopening but many families remain concerned about Covid

[Thaiger]

Many of Thailand’s government-funded schools have reopened as of yesterday, along with the acceptance of foreign visitors. However, many students and parents, alike, are reporting mixed feelings surrounding the safety of students in regards to Covid-19. The Education Ministry’s efforts to inoculate 5 million Thai and foreign students between the ages of 12-18, still hasn’t allayed the fears by parents over their kids contracting the virus. Despite 10 million Pfizer Covid-19 shots being allocated for the students, many parents are still advocating for their children to do at home learning. But, with many reports of online learning being considered a […]

The story Thailand’s schools are reopening but many families remain concerned about Covid as seen on Thaiger News.

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[HolyCowCm]

It's ok, perhaps it is part of the plan to thin out the mid to older Thai parent folks and orphan a majority of the kids so brainwashing is easier. I can't blame the parents for being leery and a little pulled back and scared of getting the evil lab bat engineered virus.

[Shade_Wilder]

It is a really difficult decision to make regarding the schools; the Covid reasons for keeping them closed are self-evident, but the case for re-opening them is very strong as well.

If anyone is interested, I wrote a couple of long posts in the Thai Life/Marriage & Family/Schools & Education section about on-line learning (drawback of on-line learning thread). The short precise is that it is horrible for your children and that as parents, there are a number of things that you can and should do.

Thai Public Education, according to the Ministry of Education's own metrics, sucks. It is a shame that they didn't use this interruption to re-vamp the curriculum for 2021 onwards.

Thailand, like many other SE Asian nations, is going to face many challenges ahead that will require a well-educated populace, but the basic building blocks aren't there at the moment.

I consider it the number one strategic threat facing the Kingdom and its future prosperity. 

[gummy]

  On 11/2/2021 at 8:58 AM, Shade_Wilder said:

Thailand, like many other SE Asian nations, is going to face many challenges ahead that will require a well-educated populace, but the basic building blocks aren't there at the moment.

I consider it the number one strategic threat facing the Kingdom and its future prosperity. 

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Whilst indoctrination of student's is one of the prime requisites for maintaining the corrupt and depraved in power in Thailand then I can not see the educational system being improved to 21st century standards anytime soon unfortunately.

[Soidog]

  On 11/2/2021 at 8:58 AM, Shade_Wilder said:

Thailand, like many other SE Asian nations, is going to face many challenges ahead that will require a well-educated populace, but the basic building blocks aren't there at the moment.

I consider it the number one strategic threat facing the Kingdom and its future prosperity.

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Totally agree. It’s a major problem however for countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam. In order to develop and educate children properly, you need to instil and develop analytical and critical thinking. If you do that, then they start to ask awkward questions such as:

Why should I respect you?

What skills and experience do you have to be a Minister in government? 

Why is the Military not protecting the country instead of playing politician games?

Why am I poor and everyone around me is poor?

Why are only a small group of people very rich in my country?

Why do you have so much money, houses and cars and yet you only earn 50,000 baht a month? 

Why have lots of people in Bangkok been  vaccinated but very few where I live? 

Why are certain questions I ask on Google or try to find on YouTube blocked? 

What are you hiding from me? 

[LoongFred]

  On 11/2/2021 at 9:36 AM, Soidog said:

Totally agree. It’s a major problem however for countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam. In order to develop and educate children properly, you need to instil and develop analytical and critical thinking. If you do that, then they start to ask awkward questions such as:

Why should I respect you?

What skills and experience do you have to be a Minister in government? 

Why is the Military not protecting the country instead of playing politician games?

Why am I poor and everyone around me is poor?

Why are only a small group of people very rich in my country?

Why do you have so much money, houses and cars and yet you only earn 50,000 baht a month? 

Why have lots of people in Bangkok been  vaccinated but very few where I live? 

Why are certain questions I ask on Google or try to find on YouTube blocked? 

What are you hiding from me? 

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Give them a good brit education where they are critical of everything and generally became only focused on themselves.  Brits live in the past and are no longer that important. 

[Poolie]

  On 11/2/2021 at 9:51 AM, LoongFred said:

Give them a good brit education where they are critical of everything and generally became only focused on themselves.  Brits live in the past and are no longer that important. 

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I think the same can be said of most of the western world, to be honest. America doesn't export much beyond the internet and destruction. After that, I'm struggling.

[Soidog]

  On 11/2/2021 at 9:51 AM, LoongFred said:

Give them a good brit education where they are critical of everything and generally became only focused on themselves.  Brits live in the past and are no longer that important. 

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 You may not recognise something funny, but you sure know how to say something hilarious

[palooka]

  On 11/2/2021 at 9:36 AM, Soidog said:

Totally agree. It’s a major problem however for countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam. In order to develop and educate children properly, you need to instil and develop analytical and critical thinking. If you do that, then they start to ask awkward questions such as:

Why should I respect you?

What skills and experience do you have to be a Minister in government? 

Why is the Military not protecting the country instead of playing politician games?

Why am I poor and everyone around me is poor?

Why are only a small group of people very rich in my country?

Why do you have so much money, houses and cars and yet you only earn 50,000 baht a month? 

Why have lots of people in Bangkok been  vaccinated but very few where I live? 

Why are certain questions I ask on Google or try to find on YouTube blocked? 

What are you hiding from me? 

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Thai children don't seem to have that wonderful (drive parents insane) word WHY? There seems to be this ready acceptance of whatever is happening and no thought to question things.

[Soidog]

  On 11/2/2021 at 10:34 AM, palooka said:

Thai children don't seem to have that wonderful (drive parents insane) word WHY? There seems to be this ready acceptance of whatever is happening and no thought to question things.

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Yes I think that’s true, or it least it has been until recently. Kids who are told to keep quiet, stop asking questions and do as you are told, soon learn to comply. The people are literally brainwashed from the age of 4 or 5. We have all worked or been past Thai Schools at 8am and seen what goes on. Most are like army boot camps at that time of the day. Nationalistic songs blaring out as loud and as distorted as possible, while the kids line up like soldiers and then march in to class. 

[palooka]

For dark red zones, the Ministry says 80 to 85% of teachers should be vaccinated, as well as practises like mask-wearing and social distancing to be in place

Social distancing for Primary school children is pushing , shoving , touching etc etc. 

Obviously has little to do with children.

Online in rural areas is great if you have internet and a computer or phone.  If you don't, which is  a factor in our area, then you don't get educated.

Think the Education Ministry need to get out a bit more into the rural areas where the grandparents (many who are illiterate and totally non tech savvy) are raising these children, maybe then they would understand how they are stuffing up the future generations of Thai people.

Then again they probably don't care anyway.

[LoongFred]

  On 11/2/2021 at 10:00 AM, Soidog said:

 You may not recognise something funny, but you sure know how to say something hilarious

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Actually what your saying is that your education system is better.  Also that the Thai system isn't woke enough. OK  you are not an expert on education, so I automatically discount your comments.  The western education systems fail because 80% of the teachers efforts are spent correcting 20% of the students. We were lucky to have sent our children to private schools where disruptive students were told to leave.

My wife's niece came to live with us and went through the public high school, because she initially needed help with English. She latter was moved to college prep courses and continued to get As. She got straight As except PE where she got Bs. She event won a  country wide award in art, but mostly studied science. She said it was very easy compared to her Thai school.

We wanted her to attend the university because that was our real purpose to take her to the US,  but she wanted to return to Thailand.  To qualify for university enterence exam she spent a year in remedial courses.  She went on to a major Thai university and studied fine arts. Upon graduation she worked for a major company, and quickly became their go to person for English communication. She told me that the Thai system was always more challenging. 

The western system has a lot of problems and shouldn't be used to compare. 

[DrPhibes]

Were back to online classes as the head of Chiang Mai sent out a notice last Sunday that all schools are no on campus learning from Monday (the next day) for 2 weeks minimum.   No way to run an educational system.

[Soidog]

  On 11/2/2021 at 10:57 AM, LoongFred said:

Actually what your saying is that your education system is better.  Also that the Thai system isn't woke enough. OK  you are not an expert on education, so I automatically discount your comments.  The western education systems fail because 80% of the teachers efforts are spent correcting 20% of the students. We were lucky to have sent our children to private schools where disruptive students were told to leave.

My wife's niece came to live with us and went through the public high school, because she initially needed help with English. She latter was moved to college prep courses and continued to get As. She got straight As except PE where she got Bs. She event won a  country wide award in art, but mostly studied science. She said it was very easy compared to her Thai school.

We wanted her to attend the university because that was our real purpose to take her to the US,  but she wanted to return to Thailand.  To qualify for university enterence exam she spent a year in remedial courses.  She went on to a major Thai university and studied fine arts. Upon graduation she worked for a major company, and quickly became their go to person for English communication. She told me that the Thai system was always more challenging. 

The western system has a lot of problems and shouldn't be used to compare. 

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Well I’ve read and re-read your post several times and I still have no idea what your point is? Nice story about the in-laws though. Thanks

[anarchofarmer]

Round here (Khon Kaen) schools still closed and "she who must be obeyed" recons that they wouldn't open till after Songkran! Apparently Thai politicians are questioning why the vast majority of schools which actually opened are international schools! Surely it couldn't be because that's where the rich kids go? Could it possibly be that in the land of egality (learned from the yanks!) only the rich got vaccinated? (Sinovac doesn't count!)

[LoongFred]

  On 11/2/2021 at 11:19 AM, Soidog said:

Well I’ve read and re-read your post several times and I still have no idea what your point is? Nice story about the in-laws though. Thanks

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The Thai system is stricter but it more closely aligns with the students needs. Enforcement of strict rules benefits most students. 

[palooka]

  On 11/2/2021 at 10:57 AM, LoongFred said:

Actually what your saying is that your education system is better.  Also that the Thai system isn't woke enough. OK  you are not an expert on education, so I automatically discount your comments.  The western education systems fail because 80% of the teachers efforts are spent correcting 20% of the students. We were lucky to have sent our children to private schools where disruptive students were told to leave.

My wife's niece came to live with us and went through the public high school, because she initially needed help with English. She latter was moved to college prep courses and continued to get As. She got straight As except PE where she got Bs. She event won a  country wide award in art, but mostly studied science. She said it was very easy compared to her Thai school.

We wanted her to attend the university because that was our real purpose to take her to the US,  but she wanted to return to Thailand.  To qualify for university enterence exam she spent a year in remedial courses.  She went on to a major Thai university and studied fine arts. Upon graduation she worked for a major company, and quickly became their go to person for English communication. She told me that the Thai system was always more challenging. 

The western system has a lot of problems and shouldn't be used to compare. 

Expand  

Generally the western mind is referred to as Romanised thinking or process of thought.  Countries that were not Romanised think differently and even though they get to the same result or similar it is via a different thought process and sometimes logic.

(Irish and English have been having cheap shots at each other for centurys. The English were Romanised the Irish were not.)

Spending a year in remedial courses prior to university means little it is just to ground the persons mind into the local way of doing things and help prepare them for Uni, particularly if a different languge is involved.  Language, terminology, education requirements etc, so that she starts on equal footing with her class mates. Very sensible.

If her thought and logic processes are Romanised now then she would definitely find the Thai system challenging. To be able to confidently float between the two thought processes and languages is truly a huge achievement and she will have a long and rewarding career if she chooses.

The western system has problems as do all systems, none are perfect and yes you cannot compare them Romanised or non Romanised, same sea different fish.

[LoongFred]

  On 11/2/2021 at 12:06 PM, palooka said:

Generally the western mind is referred to as Romanised thinking or process of thought.  Countries that were not Romanised think differently and even though they get to the same result or similar it is via a different thought process and sometimes logic.

(Irish and English have been having cheap shots at each other for centurys. The English were Romanised the Irish were not.)

Spending a year in remedial courses prior to university means little it is just to ground the persons mind into the local way of doing things and help prepare them for Uni, particularly if a different languge is involved.  Language, terminology, education requirements etc, so that she starts on equal footing with her class mates. Very sensible.

If her thought and logic processes are Romanised now then she would definitely find the Thai system challenging. To be able to confidently float between the two thought processes and languages is truly a huge achievement and she will have a long and rewarding career if she chooses.

The western system has problems as do all systems, none are perfect and yes you cannot compare them Romanised or non Romanised, same sea different fish.

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Makes sense but I know nothing about this. Please share because I'm very interested in  knowing more. Thanks.

[Soidog]

  On 11/2/2021 at 11:25 AM, LoongFred said:

The Thai system is stricter but it more closely aligns with the students needs. Enforcement of strict rules benefits most students. 

Expand  

“More closely aligns with the students needs”. What needs are they then? Determined by whom? To what international standards are those needs established and measured? I have no problem with discipline in schools; a good lesson for later life. However to suggest the Thai schooling system meets “Students needs” is unfathomable. 

[LoongFred]

  On 11/2/2021 at 12:37 PM, Soidog said:

“More closely aligns with the students needs”. What needs are they then? Determined by whom? To what international standards are those needs established and measured? I have no problem with discipline in schools; a good lesson for later life. However to suggest the Thai schooling system meets “Students needs” is unfathomable. 

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You can find graphs that meet your needs. I don't put much faith in these things, but rather if the person can perform. I can do very well at tests even if I am  only average. 

I do know American students don't do well.

[Soidog]

  On 11/2/2021 at 1:17 PM, LoongFred said:

You can find graphs that meet your needs

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Well I’m not sure you can. See if you can find a graph that proves the Thai education system works for the Thai kids and gives them a high standard of education compared to the US or U.K.? 

[DiJoDavO]

"Choosing between their child’s health and getting a sufficient education, seems to be the emerging conundrum."

If that is the dilemma, the choice is easily made as the child's health will be perfectly fine. Covid is totally not dangerous for healthy young people. 

[DiJoDavO]

The reasoning is due to the recent research surrounding the inaccuracy of the rapid antigen Covid-19 tests.

Hmm... I wonder who said these things a long time ago.... Ooooh yeah, conspiracy theorists! 

[palooka]

  On 11/2/2021 at 12:29 PM, LoongFred said:

Makes sense but I know nothing about this. Please share because I'm very interested in  knowing more. Thanks.

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Roman Philosophy started in Greece, accepted by the Romans and they in turn, via the Roman Empire, spread this Philosophy throughout Europe and later via migrants to many other countrys around the world.

Thailand for example was never romanised as it was never colonised by a western nation, so the philosophies never had the chance to seed in this country.  Thai philosophy is  self generated in part and influenced by Bhuddas' Philosophy and others so it evolved in a different manner.  They generally get to the same answer as roman (greek) philosophy get just via a different line of thought.

Probably why westeners shake their heads sometimes at the way Thais do things in every day life, mind it works in reverse for the Thais too.

[think-and-ask]

most, family /parents are not worried about viruses,
but not want, this whole government anymore,
what is not even elected by millions of people.

tv = tell a "vision",
and some, not much, i hope, people still "believe" it.

Edited November 3, 2021 by think-and-ask